


Unwrapping the Mystery

by setos_puppy



Category: DCU, Gotham (TV)
Genre: Intersexuality, M/M, Meet-Cute, Possibly Pre-Slash, Riddles, This is actually kind of really adorable and I'm in love with it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 06:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3719347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setos_puppy/pseuds/setos_puppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jonathan's better thanks to Ed figuring out his dad's formula.  He wants to work with him as a way to say thanks.  Things are awkward and adorable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unwrapping the Mystery

**Author's Note:**

> I sort of merged New 52 canon a bit with this. Just to make things make a bit more sense, a little. There are way too many stupid riddles in this. I did a bit of age handwaving in this, and made Jonathan 18 by having him been battling his dad's inflicted demons for a while. 
> 
> Also, this whole fic came about when I started doing readings on cortisol after it was mentioned in the episodes and found out that a lack of cortisol, along with other reasons, can cause Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. I know that part of the reason Gerard was after the hormone was for the interaction with stress and fight or flight responses, but I wondered, what if he had another reason, too. So... yeah. THEN THIS HAPPENED. I don't claim to be an expert on it, but I did a lot, like a month or more worth of research, and I'll link the significant stuff at the bottom. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Also, this is for Paige, because... BECAUSE.

The kid, well, young man now, looked much different than the last time Jim had seen him. Really, anyone would look better than writhing around restrained for personal safety to a hospital bed, but he meant it in other ways as well. Jonathan looked good. He was still lanky, slightly too tall for his limbs, and baby-faced, hair long, bound back in a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck, but his eyes were bright. Curious the way Jim thought all youth's should be, in a way that wasn't hardened by time or hardship, in a way that sadly Bruce Wayne's weren't, in a way that Bullock's were when it came to leering at the opposite sex.

 

“You sure you want to do this? Nygma's... he can be off putting.”

 

“I'm pretty sure he saved my life, Detective, if it wasn't for his hard work, and those he consulted, puzzling out my father's paper, they never would have found a way to stem the effects of the injection. Besides, I need credits to go toward college applications. This way it's a win-win.”

 

Jim nodded, mouth pressed in a hard line as he thought about it. Nygma had already agreed to taking Jonathan in as an intern, or assistant, or whatever he wanted to call it. Said that having someone around would be 'nice'. Jonathan had time to make up for, even if he'd been officially released into his grandmother's custody for over a year, he was still making regular hospital visits and was homeschooling to make up for time lost while he was all but insane due to his father's machinations.

 

“Well, alright, follow me to my desk, Ed left a bunch of forms for you to fill out. He'll be in around nine, so you can fill them out while you wait for him.”

 

Nodding his head, Jonathan followed Jim back toward his desk, sitting in the free seat across from where Jim would sit. Jim looked through the stacks of papers on his desk before pulling out a file folder and dropped it in front of Jonathan and he picked up a pen from the holder and clicked the top before handing it over.

 

Jonathan took the pen with a smile, crossing his legs as he pulled the chair in to skim over the papers. Most of them seemed to be general consent forms and information on what he would and wouldn't be doing, explaining the processes of the office and lab. It didn't take long to read through most of them and sign, initial and date where necessary. Once they were done and tucked to the side, Jonathan let his eyes run over the final form, which seemed to be for all of his personal and contact information.

 

Frowning down at the page, Jonathan scribbled the information in, pen hovering over the “sex” selection boxes before he scribbled out his initial indication and drew a small line from the sloppy writing of C.A.H. to the scratched out boxes. From what he understood, Edward was a scientist, a bio-chemist, so he should know what the letters meant, if not, Jonathan wouldn't care about explaining. He'd been doing it his whole life after all.

 

 

Tucking the sheet behind the others, Jonathan's brows winged up at a hand written post it note stuck to the back of the folder. Unsticking it, he let his eyes slide over the words and he gave a soft scoff as he realized it was a riddle. _A man drives in a black car, on a black road, the moon is not lighting anything up. A black cat darts out in front of the car. What causes the man to slam on his brakes and keep from hitting the cat?_ Jonathan stared at the teaser and let his eyes become unfocused as he pondered on the question. He mulled the question over before he looked back at the paper and grinned. _It's daytime and he could see the cat because of the sun!_

He piled the papers together and stuck the post it to the very front page before closing the folder. Handing the pen back to Gordon, Jonathan chewed on the side of his thumb absently before he looked over when he saw Gordon do the same. Dropping his hand, Jonathan stood and offered a smile and his hand.

“You must be my new recruit?”

“Yeah. Jonnie.”

Edward glanced at his outstretched hand and then smiled, taking it in a loose shake. “Great. If you'll grab your things and follow me, I'll show you where you'll be spending your time.”

With a quick wave to Jim and grabbing his backpack and the file folder, Jonathan moved to take pace with Ed. He was led away from the main bullpen of the GCPD and through a door with a card reader and down a series of halls that had windowed rooms with people in lab coats or standing over things that looked like they were going “hmmm”. Stopping when Edward did, Jonathan saw him pull on the small clip on his waistband that held the keycard and fish through a series of keys before sticking one in the door and unlocked it. As it opened, Jonathan spotted the nameplate on the door – E. Nygma.

The office wasn't quite what Jonathan expected, if he was being honest. He expected a scientist's office to be... not this. Sure there were diagrams and a large splash poster of the periodic table and the probably necessary picture of Einstein he'd seen in every science classroom ever, but it was _messy_. Hell, it was practically overflowing. Yet, it seemed like the mess was an organized kind of chaos, and if Jonathan looked past most if it, it seemed to be due to a severe lack of space. Bookshelves were double stuffed and even more books lined the top corrals of Ed's desk and a small pile on an old computer chair. File folders covered every surface, open, closed, solitary and in piles. An old anatomical study skeleton seemed to double for a coat rack and a second, crammed in utility locker had supplies, folded and wadded up lab coats, field coats, and what was probably a bunch of other personal protective gear. It was strangely cozy, but somehow Jonathan got the feeling the room was mostly for storage, a place where Edward dumped his things before he went where the _real work_ happened.

“Oh, uh...” Ed spun in place, fingers wiggling absently as he picked up a stack of something off of a second computer chair – different from the one holding the books – and jammed the armful of things precariously in a space on a bookshelf. “There. You can drop your things here, since most of the labs have already laid claim to too many bags and sweaters. Take a seat and we'll go over everything.”

Nodding his head, Jonathan dropped into the chair as Ed took his own chair and opened the file folder Jonathan had held out for him. He picked up the post it and skimmed over the answer before a smile blossomed over his face. “Very good.” He opened a drawer and after rifling through it, produced a small sheet of stickers. He pulled off a metallic gold one and stuck it to the page before he pinned it to the back of his desk with a tack. As he went through the other pages, Ed was mostly quiet, nodding as he made sure things were in order. As he got to the personal and contact information, he skimmed it, then pulled a small notebook from his pocket and snatched a pen from his desk as he wrote in it. “Preferred pronouns?”

Jonathan let out a breath as a small knot he hadn't realized had been building in his stomach uncoiled. “Male's fine, if it changes I'll let you know morning of. Most of the time it's male, or neutral.”

“Mmhmm. Salt-wasting?”

“Yeah. I always have my meds with me, so you don't need to worry about it too much.”

“Well, if you'd like, you're welcome to keep extras in my desk for an emergency. Anything I should know about? If I call your grandmother should I be using a different name?”

“Nah, Jonnie's my birth name, my mom was smart like that. She was a doctor, so she went for a name between Jonathan and Joanna. From what she told me, what I can remember, fought like hell to keep the doctors from talking her or my dad into 'corrective' surgery too. Wonder if that's why my dad was so damn determined for cortisol, not because of the fear – or not only because of it – but because of my lack of it, too. Think about that a lot, actually.”

“Kids like you, ones who need to know a lot of medical knowledge, you're always smarter than the rest of the herds.”

Jonathan snorted, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, okay. If you could tell that to my teachers, that'd be great.”

Edward looked up at him, pausing in filling out the portion of the forms he needed to. “Don't let them tell you how to learn.” His mouth pressed into a thin line a moment and he huffed out a breath. “Coming from someone who learns differently, I know what it's like to suffer through the standardized system, try to conform.”

Jonathan let out a small laugh and nodded his head, smiling at Ed. He knew they'd get along well, somehow, and not on a superficial level, either. Not just because Ed's brain had unscrambled his.

“Hey, uh, you should probably also know my amygdala's completely busted, so my fear response is shot.”

“Seems your father's theory was proven correct in practice. Or, at least, his application.”

Making a noncommittal noise, Jonathan rose his shoulders in a small shrug. He'd never really been all that afraid of things in general before, but now he noticed a severe lack of it. A missing buzz of “oh god, what _if_ ”.

“Alright, let's hand these papers into records and get you a keycard and key to my office and then we can tackle these cases.”

Jonathan shot out of his chair, excitement buzzing through him at the chance to do something. At the chance to do science, even if it wasn't the same kind of science he was interested in. At being somewhere new, with new people. Helping. Solving. Learning!

  


***

  


“So, I have to ask, and you're more than welcome to tell me to back off, but knowledge and discovery is my department.” Edward's voice came from where he was bent over a microscope.

Jonathan paused in where he was transcribing Edward's notes, most of which he had on dictaphone, and slipped the earbuds out of his ears and turned on the stool in the lab. “Hm?”

“How were you raised, as an intersex child? I'm assuming since you were sexed female...”

Letting out a raspberry noise, Jonathan made a so-so motion with his hand. “Sexed female because of chromosomes, mostly, and the whole, you know, uterus thing.” Pushing away from where he was positioned in front of the laptop, Jonathan felt himself get carried across the waxed floor and stopped himself short of banging into the counter Ed was hunched over with his foot. “I'm probably a three on the Prader Scale, so I'm decently enough mixed. I'm lucky enough to have grown up in the internet age and with parents who were stubborn enough, and thankfully also open minded enough, to let me traverse this crazy on my own. I mean, when it comes down to things, I use male pronouns because it's kind of easier? Sadly, for this society, and also because I don't really care about dresses and never really got enough fat up top to really be argued otherwise. I mean, I menstruate, I can carry kids, but I'm pretty hirsute. I've got a decently sized phallus, if I'm being honest,” Jonathan laughed and the small grin and scoffing eye roll that earned him, “and I don't need to bind what little breasts I do have, so... I mean, I guess I was raised luckily.”

Making a notation in his notebook, Ed looked up and adjusted his glasses as he looked at Jonathan. “I like how grounded you are. That you grew up to be so nonchalant about it. I've heard and read horror stories and I think the past year and a half or so that you've been through, is enough.”

Nodding his head, Jonathan rested his elbows atop the counter and dropped his chin into his palms as he watched Ed work. “Well, I think that's part of the reason I'm so interested in science and psychology. So I can sort of get to the bottom of this kind of thing. Of why people go in radical different directions of gender, or don't, or why people freak out when people do.”

“If you figure out the answer, can I be the first person you call?”

Laughing, Jonathan tugged over another microscope and peered into it, onto the slide that rested to be examined. “Sure. Hell, I may recruit you to work with me, with the way your brain works, it'd be nice to have someone who looks at the box and then kicks it away while laughing as they look for answers.”

“I like how you're ten years my junior, remind me of myself, and just offered me a perspective job when you haven't gone to university yet.”

“Keep talking like that and I'll fire you from that job.”

“Jon?”

“Mmm?”

“What can go up a chimney down, but can't go down a chimney up?”

Jonathan adjusted the zoom on the lens, absently doodling the detail of the fibre on a scrap piece of paper. “An umbrella.”

  


***

  


The first crime scene was strange. Not because there was a dead body, or because of the blood, but because of the way people acted. Most of the officers milled around, seemingly doing nothing. Detective Bullock drank his coffee and made a lot of wide gestures with his hands, but whenever Ed tried to speak to him, he brushed him off. Even when he asked a question, he seemed angry that Ed answered it.

“Jonathan, can you pass me that caliper, please?”

“Nygma, are you sure your little assistant’s even allowed on this side of the tape? He could contaminate --”

“I cleared it with Captain Essen, Detective. He's not going to process anything, simply hand me things, perhaps take some photographs.”

Jonathan shot Bullock a haughty grin, pleased that Ed was standing up for him, but Bullock wasn't looking, his attention had been drawn away as Gordon approached. Jonathan smiled at him, offering a hand-wave in greeting before taking the paper envelope Ed handed him and tucked it into his kit with care.

“Hey Jonathan, you allowed to be back here?”

“Yup. Captain Essen said as long as I keep back and don't touch anything I haven't been directed to that it's cool.”

Jim nodded his head and Jonathan turned his eyes back toward Ed, who was staring at the corpse with his head tilted to the side. “What is it?”

“I just... Can you come here a moment?”

Nodding, Jonathan moved to crouch across from where Ed was looking, taking care to place his gloved hands on his knees. Ed was looking at the man's collar, brows pinched together. Jonathan stooped in, bracketing himself with one hand on the floor of the factory they were in, as he looked in.

“There's cardboard in the collar.” Jonathan murmured, looking over the head of the dead man. “You know, like when you buy a new shirt from a department store in one of those packets? They have the bendy thing to keep the shape.”

“The buttons were hastily done as well too, and there's an extra one at the bottom, so they're done up wrong. Redressed, I'd say, won't know more until he's processed, but can you lift his head for me so I can take this cardboard out and maybe take a look at the tag?”

Nodding his head, Jonathan shifted position, kneeling beside the body's head and cupped his hands underneath, grimacing slightly when his hands encountered wet clumps of hair and lifted. Edward snapped a few photos, then extracted the cardboard.

“Looks like one of the ones priests wear.”

“Good eye, I was just thinking the same, this doesn't look like the typical ones they use to hold shape.” Edward looked up from his kneeling position toward Jim, brandishing the collar. “I think we have a man of the cloth.”

Bullock's mouth moved and tugged down, as he exhaled through his nose. “A priest, you're basing that on a piece of paper you pulled out of his shirt? My shirts have the same thing and I ain't no saint.”

“This is a full collar.” Jonathan snapped back, annoyed. “It's detachable, you can see the holes for the metal pins if you look, it's plastic, too, not cardboard. I think you're forgetting that Ed's a _scientist_ , he doesn't just toss things out on a whim.”

Bullock's body tightened and he drew himself up. He opened his mouth to say something before huffing and waving a hand of dismissal, that it wasn't worth it, before turning and walking off. Jonathan moved to rock back on his heels and turned his attention toward Jim, brows raising and cocking his head slightly, challengingly.

“Seems like you got yourself a catch, Nygma. Two of us would be lost without you.”

“You're lost _with_ me, Detective.”

Jonathan managed to catch his snort of laughter as Jim sputtered. He stood, removing his gloves and tossed them in the folded open biohazard bag before pulling on new ones.

“Face it, Detective, as puzzled as you are with him, you like Ed.”

Jim blinked and looked at Jonathan, hands tucking into his pockets. “Never said I didn't.”

Jonathan's brows raised, annoyance pecking away inside of him, like an angry bird. “Maybe you should act more like it, then. Seems to me that this man, who quite literally pulled me from a mental hell, is mocked here. Your partner gonna make quips at me for being fearless now?”

“Jonnie, they're just words. I know I'm well appreciated here, that my work is vital.”

Jonathan's eyes turned to Ed and he shifted his posture to a more relaxed stance. “Sorry, I just...”

“No, you're right, Jonathan, we do make a lot of barbs at Ed, not all of them can be considered friendly banter. If we're setting an example for Gotham, we should be setting the right one.” Jim replied, voice soft. He looked toward Ed, then to Jonathan. “I'll start pulling up a list of churches in the city, see if any of them have a cleric missing. Thanks.

Watching as Gordon walked off, Jonathan offered a hand to Edward to pull himself from the dusty floor. He bit down on his lower lip. “Sorry, maybe they'll write it off as youthful arrogance. I just... You're so smart, it drives me nuts that they don't see it and appreciate it because you express it differently.”

Edward watched Jonathan for a long moment, moving as the medical examiner's office came to collect the body and handed off the notes he'd made for Thompkins to watch for. She listened, at least. Bagging the collar once he moved off, Ed finally let out a sigh. “They remind me of my father. Maybe that's why I don't speak up more.”

Jonathan felt something inside of him shift, anger fading into sympathy, and he set a hand on Edward's arm. “Well, looks like both of our dads made a significant impact on our brains.”

Edward looked at the hand on his arm and then looked back to Jonathan. “You're going to be a brilliant psychologist, do you know that?”

“Well, with a letter of recommendation from you, I'm sure that I'll head in the right direction. That maybe, in time, when you take me up on my job offer, we'll make a huge impact on the future and people of Gotham.”

  


***

  


“This is damn near impossible! It's torture I tell you!”

“Only because you're looking at it wrong.”

“Ed, the game wasn't designed to be like this.”

“The game allowed me to do this, therefore it was designed to be like this.”

Letting out a frustrated noise, Jonathan tipped the controller from his hand and lolled his head back on the couch as he pulled his legs up under himself, temples throbbing as the turret onscreen beeped and shot bullets through his character for the millionth time, resetting the level. He squinted toward the screen, at the white tiles on the TV and pushed the controller into Ed's hands.

“Fine, show me how it's done. I'm Portal-ed out.”

Relaxing back into the couch, Jonathan watched as Ed's character slipped through the elaborate maze of self-made traps and bonkers level design. Resting his chin atop his knee, Jonathan took a long sip of his soda, shifting as his watch beeped and pulled out his pill bottle for the day from his pocket and dumped the contents onto his palm and then swallowed them with another mouthful of Dr. Pepper chased with a few pretzels.

“That's fucking bullshit, Ed. No one would figure it out.”

“You nearly did, then you gave up.”

“Because this took me almost an _hour_. Besides, watching you play is much more satisfying. I like seeing you tackle these levels. I like watching your face as your brain works.”

Ed paused the game, turning to look at Jonathan, head cocked to the side as he examined him. “Really?”

“Have I lied to you yet?” Jonathan replied, moving to sit forward slightly and touch at the edges of the thin, wire-framed glasses on Ed's face. “I like these more than your other glasses. You look so relaxed. I don't think I've seen you in jeans. Lots of people at the GCPD wear jeans.”

“I like to make a good impression so I wear work clothes at work.” Ed replied, moving on his couch to look at Jonathan more fully. “You're really like no one else there, no one else in this city. No one else here is so relaxed with who they are.”

“Maybe they all need to get shot up with a horrific concoction that sends their Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis off of its axis to get over themselves.” Jonathan replied with a wry grin. “Besides, how many people with salt wasting congential adreanal hyperplasia live in this city?”

Tipping his head to the side, Ed's mouth shifted to a moue as he thought. “Well, given the current population size and the occurrences in general population I'd say there are at least two others in the city who have it. Though I haven't met them, and I doubt they'd be as fascinating as you. Definitely none as _fearless_ , my dear friendly Deimos.”

Groaning at the nickname, one that someone in his therapy sessions had stuck to him and he'd started using as his online pseudonym, Jonathan smacked Ed in the arm. “Keep that up and I'm going to have to find one for you.”

“I already found one. Epiphron. Embodiment of thoughtfulness and shrewdness.”

Shaking his head as he picked pieces of pretzel from his teeth, Jonathan sucked on his nail. “Of course you did.”

Ed took a few swallows of his own drink before unpausing the game and returning to play. He didn't look over as he continued the conversation. “You never wondered how I knew right away to ask about your pronouns or anything?”

“Not really, you're smart, background in biology, made sense. Plus the fact you have a stealthily hidden pride flag sticker hidden in your office behind your computer, I figured you'd have some sort of contact.”

“Mm. I had an ex who had PAIS, she introduced intersex as a... world? I suppose, to me.”

Humming in understanding, Jonathan shifted so he was sprawled across the couch, feet ending up in Ed's lap able to focus on both the screen and Ed's face at his leisure. “You know, I'd love to see how you play games like Risk, there's a shop downtown that lets you play and rent boardgames and you can join or invite people. We should go sometime.”

“That sounds like it would be fun. I don't go out very often, most of my friends are online or over games, so it would be nice to interact with a few people around the city, even if it was only for a night.”

“You should go out more, I'm sure you'd really like the city. Granted you probably need a revolver if you're going anywhere near Arkham, especially now that it's reopened. I'm thinking I may try to do my residency there, what do you think?”

“They'd be damn lucky to have you.”

Jonathan smiled and rested his head against the back of the couch, not really looking at Ed, but listening to the sounds of the game as he played and the general din of life outside of his apartment. “You know who else would be damn lucky to have me?” Ed tipped his head to the side, indicating he was listening and asking. Jonathan refocused, his eyes drawing to Ed's hands, where his fingers worked over the analog sticks and buttons on the controller. “You.”

A smile pulled at the corner of Ed's mouth and after a long minute of button clicking and movement, be put the controller aside and turned his attention back to Jonathan. “You work with me, you're ten years my junior.”

“I'm eighteen, legally an adult, and people in jobs see each other all the time.”

“I'm very poor at keeping relationships secret.”

“Why would I want to keep you secret?”

Ed shifted, turning his eyes to Jonathan's face, curious. “You're not just saying all this because I pulled you out of a mental hell dimension?”

Rolling his eyes, Jonathan nibbled on the lip of his soda can before taking a few long swallows. “That's definitely a benefit, but nah, I find you scientifically and personally fascinating. You just seem to... know. To want to know. To have answers where I have questions and to push me into finding my own when I don't, or you don't, have that answer.”

“Huh.” Ed watched, amused, as Jonathan moved on the couch until he was astride his lap. Ed settled his hands easily on the slim hips, peering up at Jonathan's face. “You really do have no fear.”

“Well, do you wanna date me or not?”

“Ugh, so direct, where's your flair?”

“Riddles are not my forte. They're yours, Mr. E. Mr. E. Nygma. Your name, it's too perfect, kind of like the rest of you. Kind of blunt but in your face, too. Riddle me this, where, oh where, would I like a kiss?”

“Not bad, needs work.” Ed replied, moving slightly so their mouths pressed together softly. He sat back after a moment, eyes roaming over Jonathan's face. “Kissing needs work too.”

“Well, luckily, with you, I get practice with both. Hm, Riddler.”

Edward snorted softly, eyes rolling fondly. “Riddler, so cheesy. Kind of with the theme of my whole name, though, I guess.”

“Hmm. Suits you.” Jonathan mused a moment, thinking, tracing his fingers over Ed's face, amusing himself. “Alright, here's one for you – My body will make yours itch, I'm oft posted on a pitch. I'm quite a sight to behold, surrounded by fields of gold. What am I?”

Edward grinned, fingers moving up Jonathan's sides, rucking his shirt up slightly. He turned his face, lips pressing to Jonathan's fingers before he bit lightly at the tips. “You're a scarecrow.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiii. Okay, here's my sort of reference notes for stuff...
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_adrenal_hyperplasia
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_adrenal_hyperplasia_due_to_21-hydroxylase_deficiency
> 
> http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/En/News/NewsAndFeatures/Pages/CAH-and-ambiguous-genitalia.aspx
> 
> http://www.neonatologie.ugent.be/aanpakintersex.pdf
> 
> http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/cah.htm
> 
> https://www.hopkinschildrens.org/cah/printable.html
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnqMQuNHYPo&feature=youtu.be
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZRD1OdHBA4
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gyoq6tdlsE
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJDp8-CdyVE
> 
> http://www.autostraddle.com/claudia-is-intersex-lets-talk-about-it-149137/
> 
> http://www.autostraddle.com/brought-to-you-by-the-letter-i-why-intersex-politics-matters-to-lgbt-activism-192760/
> 
> Once more, I don't claim to be an expert and any and all mistakes or discrepancies made in the story are mine alone.


End file.
